“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Lk. 12:34).
Our Gospel reading seems designed to fit right in with the stewardship season: a little reminder to all of us that now is the time for us to take stock of our treasure and formulate our annual budgets, both individually, and collectively as a church. Christian stewardship, of course, is not about budgets, but more about our relationship with God. Jesus suggests in our Gospel reading tonight that what we do with our treasure is really about what we do with our hearts. According to Jesus, heart will follow treasure, which makes the placement of our treasure a spiritual issue. We want to get it right.
The chairs of stewardship committees sometimes hear that “the church is always talking about money.” Well, maybe; but Jesus actually had quite a bit to say about possessions. “Sell your possessions, and give alms” (Lk. 12:33), Jesus says in our Gospel reading; to which we might add his pointed words a little later in Luke’s Gospel, “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (Lk. 14:33). Then there’s what Jesus says to the rich young man, who has assured him that he has kept all the commandments, “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (Lk. 18:22).
That last saying suggests that our possessions can be turned into heavenly treasure, if we are generous to others. As in our Gospel today, what we have can become a key to the kingdom. “Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven” (Lk. 12:33), as Jesus says. The things of this world that we possess can become portable, purses that we carry over into heaven. The stuff of this world can become the stuff of the next, by God’s transforming power. It all hangs on our generous hearts.
Elsewhere, Jesus makes explicit the connection between our interior disposition, what’s within our hearts, and the gifts that we give. Again, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that they must “give for alms those things that are within” (Lk. 11:41). With their focus on the outward they had neglected what was within. The intention of the will and a generous spirit, matters of the heart, must be part of our approach, as we think about the offerings we make.
This evening we commemorate the thirteenth century saint, Elizabeth of Hungary, a fitting companion as we consider Christian stewardship. She was member of the Hungarian royal family who married Ludwig IV, a German princeling who in marrying a Hungarian princess was definitely “marrying up.” It was an arranged marriage but they made a happy couple. As a young woman, Elizabeth joined her spouse in Germany, before Ludwig went off on crusade and perished in the conflict. As a result, Elizabeth lost her position and she and her children lost their home. She must have had very hard-hearted in-laws.
From an early age, Elizabeth had been attracted to the principles of “holy poverty”: the Franciscan belief that the stuff we accumulate gets in the way of following Jesus. For St. Francis and his early followers, possessions were a burden on the spiritual life, and a barrier to true discipleship. This emphasis on holy poverty touched the hearts of St. Elizabeth and others, as they sought to clear away the material bric-a-brac of their lives and attempted to follow Jesus.
In her married life, Elizabeth discovered a more positive approach to her possessions, and used them to give alms and to help the poor of her community. Instead of being just a barrier to the spiritual life, they became for her and others a means of grace. After her husband’s death when she herself became poor, she continued to minister to the people around her. She became a Franciscan, and later the patron saint of the third order of Franciscans: lay people who followed the Franciscan rule. She was universally loved by the people among whom she ministered, and wore herself out in good works.
You might say that St. Elizabeth turned the treasure of her life and her heart into a heavenly possession, illustrating our Gospel this evening. She was generous with her possessions, transforming them by her generosity; and though in her poverty she wore herself out, the heavenly treasure prepared for her could never be exhausted. Our possessions might be a drag on our spiritual lives, but they are also a powerful tool for our own transformation. Elizabeth lived such a transformed life.
It all hangs on our generous hearts. As Jesus says in our Gospel this evening, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Lk. 12:34). Jesus’ teaching reminds us of the eternal destiny that is prepared for us, and the heavenly treasure that’s ahead. Let this be an encouragement to our confirmand and to all of us tonight, as we renew our baptismal promises and recommit to following Christ. The bric-a-brac of our life is not so much and obstacle to the spiritual life as a part of our preparation for what lies ahead. For all of us, there is a larger life to come. Heart will follow treasure, and in the spiritual life, we all want to end up in the right place.
